THE ORGANISATION OF RESEARCH IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHER PREPARATION IN THE US UNIVERSITIES

Abstract

Although research has been shown to expedite the professional growth and development of prospective specialists, less is known about the effective world practices in undergraduate and graduate research that could be applied in Ukrainian language teacher education. The present article explores the characteristics of student resear ch in US foreign language teacher education. The study focused on the analysis of academic literature, normative resources and the practical experience of language teacher preparation with the aim of extrapolating good practices into the Ukrainian system of language teacher education. It was shown that student research integrates didactic approaches with elements of creative activity, individual research projects, culminating projects, the study of specialised disciplines, individual and group scientific inquiry, not included in the curricula of educational programmes. The organisational forms of the latter are research symposia, seminars, workshops, conferences, preparation of scientific publications and some others. Among the central tasks of undergraduate and graduate research is the preparation of highly qualified, autonomous specialists, who are capable of accumulating and generating scientific knowledge, skillful application of professional knowledge in approaching the task of teaching; familiarising students with the methodology for organising and conducting research in the field of foreign language education; increasing motivation for scientific inquiry and professional development, intensification of learning; promotion of critical and reflective thinking, professional self-identification and self-realisation; stimulating the need for continuous self-development; implementation of individualisation and differentiation principles in language teacher education; replenishment of the cohort of scientific and pedagogical staff. The research competence is developed through diverse didactic forms and approaches; it is characterised mainly by electiveness at the undergraduate level and is a mandatory component of the graduate programmes’ curricula in foreign language teacher education.